MINING AT THAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 10

MINING AT THAMES.

WORKERS CLAIM AWARD.

LONG HEARING ENDED.

With the conclusion yesterday afternoon of the hearing of the carpenters and joiners' section of the goldminers' dispute, at present before the Arbitration Court, the Court proceeded with the hearing of another mining dispute, that in which 10 mining companies in the Thames and Coromandel districts were cited as parties to an award which the Thames Miners' Union applied to have made. The Talisman Dubbo Gold

Mining Company was named as the principal respondent, for which Mr. M. H. Wynyard appeared. Mr. James Roberts, of Wellington, represented the ufiion. Mr. Justice O'Regan presided,

and with him were Messrs. A. L. Monteith and W. Cecil Prime. The award included claims for higher wages and different conditions of work.

A number of clauses had been agreed to in previous discussions, one of which was that the maximum number of hours should be 40.

i A point in dispute, in connection with . this clause, was whether the 40 hours i should be worked over five or six days, s the company claiming the right "of I Saturday work. Several witnesses emphasised the dan- ' gerous nature of the workings, and ' stated that the difficulties met with in mining in the Thames district should II give the union members rights which I. had not been embodied in previous ,' agreements. M Rupert Archie Hounslow, a miner in • the Talisman Dubbo mine, said the • country about the mine was "rotten," 1 and mining was dangerous. Accidents were prevalent, and at present 15 per cent of the payroll was on accident pay. In some respects, however, the mine was t good. t ■ Owing to pressure of time, each party •, agreed to put in their statements to the j Court later. , The hearing of this dispute concluded • the whole of the goldmining dispute, .(which had taken four days.